Fangs and Courage
by kibaskitty
Summary: Gaara and Tsume have reached an agreement to join their clans by marriage. Gaara's choice to wed Kiba is unexpected, as is the mark she bears. ON HIATUS until Finals are over and I can fix it up


This is my first fic, so please constructive criticism only. Also, I'd like to write more of this, but would need a beta reader to help me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Only Eiki from my own imagination. All other characters are only being borrowed for my amusement.

_Spend all your time waiting for that second chance  
For the break that will make it ok  
There's always some reason to feel not good enough?  
And it's hard at the end of the day _

Gaara stood on the rooftop, looking out over the buildings of Suna. He had never cared for the village, or any of the people. Not since the day Yashamaru had died. Fewer people called him monster these days, but those who did were even more vicious than before. Only his family, and one odd girl had ever treated him differently, had never called him a monster even before he began trying to change. He thought it had mostly been out of fear, an idea he was willing to put money on. When would the people of his village accept him?

_I need some distraction, oh beautiful release  
Memories seep from my veins _

_They may be empty and weightless, and maybe  
I'll find some peace tonight _

He remembered the crazed bloodlust he had just recently begun to control. As children, he had loved to spill blood for the simple reason of watching it run. The one time Temari had tried to touch him back then, he had put her in the hospital, and their father had put her back in again when she had been released. Their father had been an ass, abusive to all three of them. Still, Gaara had at least found relief with Yashamaru, his uncle. After Yashamaru's death, however, Gaara had thought himself totally alone with his demon and his bloodlust. It wasn't until after Uzumaki had beaten the shit out of him that he had realized he'd had a choice: to take the path he was on or to take a harder path, to allow people to care about him rather than cause them to hate him. He had realized then, that he had had people waiting behind him, waiting for him to reach out with something other than death. There had been his siblings, and Baki, and an unexpected shadow of a girl around Kankuro's age who vaguely resembled his uncle. Gaara remembered her always being near when he was tormented by the villagers or by his demon. She was a self-effacing creature, but had never treated him with any kind of malice or dislike, only acceptance. Gaara had tried hard to change, and in the three years since his fight with Konoha's knucklehead, he had become a man worthy of regard. He had identified the girl as a cousin, Yashamaru's orphan, and she had moved in with the three siblings. He had never anticipated the steel which laced her spirit. In the early days he had slipped backwards fairly often, several times as far as to wrap her in his sand and threaten her with death. Never had he seen fear in her eyes, only love reaching for him. She always knew that sooner or later he would back down when he looked her in the eye, and had told him she didn't see any reason to fear him. Gaara snorted, his recent nightmares after the Akatsuki fiasco had caused him to leave plenty of bruises on her body, and a few nasty cuts as well. Luckily, as a dancer from her childhood, she could fluidly dodge most of his more dangerous reactions. Sometimes Temari was the one to comfort him instead, but to him it didn't really matter whose touch it was, so long as someone was there to soothe him and allow him to take comfort in a motherly embrace. Occasionally, she would croon a song to him, one he was sure didn't qualify as a lullaby, but would soothe him better than any other tune. Gaara snorted again, and rolled his eyes as his memory conjured up her voice from the night before. What would Suna think if they knew their Kazekage was sun to sleep by sisters like a child?

_In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here  
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here_

As the sun set, Gaara turned to go back inside. He knew he would find Kankuro and Temari there, as both had recently finished missions. And she would be there, the cousin who took care of them, who was more a sister and mother than any of the three had anticipated. A close group, bound by their childhoods, none of the siblings had expected her to fit so well with their own tortured minds. She had taken over the cooking, since Temari could burn water, and the boys would rather use the kitchen knives to practice kunai skills than to cut. Eiki had become a sister, and on occasion partly mother, to the three siblings, and in their minds was their fourth sibling.

Eiki looked up smiling as he entered the kitchen, her hair no longer covered by the veil she usually wore outdoors. Gaara was always amazed at how motherly she looked when she smiled like that, with a wooden spoon in her hand and a stack of dished on her hip. She tossed the dishes onto the table, each sliding to the appropriate place, and then allowed the chopsticks to fly over using the chakra string technique Kankuro had taught her. Reaching up to grab a bowl for the rice, she bent gracefully as she swiveled in place passing the food from the stove to Temari to be put onto the table.

_So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn  
There's vultures and thieves at your back  
The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies  
That you make up for all that you lack  
It don't make no difference, escaping one last time  
It's easier to believe  
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness  
That brings me to my knees_

He would have to tell them tonight, after dinner. Gaara had told Eiki first, in his office earlier that day. His guards had been puzzled when he'd told them to remove almost all of the decorations, but she could turn almost anything when she wanted to, and he had preferred not to take any chances. Eiki had taken the news fairly well, and much less violently than he had thought, especially considering that the mark on her arm gave her the ability to freely choose where her loyalty lay. They had agreed to tell Kankuro and Temari the news after dinner, to avoid any unnecessary conflict during the meal. Gaara had received the Hokage's a reply to an offer he had mentioned on his last trip to Konoha. The chosen clan had accepted, and Eiki would marry Inuzuka Kiba.

_In the arms of an Angel, far away from here  
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie  
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here_

In Konoha, the Inuzuka household was quiet as Tsume contemplated the best way to tell her family the news. The Inuzuka leader had been wary at first, when the Hokage had approached her about the match, as the girl in question only had the basic kunoichi skills common to Suna. The girl had none of Konoha's battle skills, and once out of the desert, very few of her current skills would be useful. Only her healing abilities, and the few jutsu she had learned from the Kazekage's siblings would serve her in the forests of the Leaf. The girl was apparently a good medic and decent veterinarian, capable of helping Hana, and it would be nice to have a healer for both humans and animals in the family. Even so, if Hana had not looked at the girl's record and noticed that she had a mark to match their own, Tsume would have rejected the offer immediately. As it was, Tsume rather hoped that she would be able to tell Kiba about his engagement while all of the Konoha 12 were available. If she could tell him before he went to meet the whole group, perhaps the other eleven would be able to cool him down and help him understand some of the benefits to this arrangement. It was settled, she and Hana would tell Kiba in the morning, Kiba had mentioned going to train with the others. She grinned as she arrived home for dinner. Eiki. The girl was named for courage. Tsume only hoped she could live up to the name, especially once this Eiki found out how life was going to be in her clan. She only wondered why, if the Kazekage was willing to give up one of his own family to the political dogs, he had chosen to literally marry her into the dogs. Then again, that mark sat in the back of her mind. Maybe he knew what it was, or maybe she had said something about it to him that had influenced his choice. Tsume sighed, at least this Gaara was a person all of the Konoha 12 trusted, so joining with his family couldn't be too bad.

As he ate, watching the easy conversation between his three siblings, Gaara tried to suppress the pang he felt at the thought of having had to marry Eiki off in a political match. He still didn't have much of an idea why she had asked for an Inuzuka, other than Uzumaki had seen her mark. Naruto had opened his mouth and told her it was similar to one on the Inuzuka women, so when Gaara had told Eiki about having her married to Konoha for political reasons, she had asked him to look among the Inuzuka first. Shaking his head, Gaara thought that should she be mistreated or neglected, he would personally kill his future brother-in-law. After all, even though he might only have pieces to work with, Eiki was one of his few precious people, she was _katei_, family. It hurt to think of her so far away. He could already feel the disquiet that warned him of nightmares tonight, and his mind echoed her song, conjuring up an image of Eiki and her betrothed together in an attempt to suppress it. They made a nice image, and would complement each other reasonably well. After all, self-effacing though she may be, she was also steel-spined with a name to fit her spirit. She would be alright, he was sure of it. She had read Kiba's record, knew him to be a friend of Gaara and the Uzumaki, and had accepted with a smile. He knew that whether or not she fell in love with Kiba, it would be in her nature to find some reason to care for him, and she would welcome him home each night with the same open arms that had welcomed Temari, Kankuro, and himself so often in the past few years.

_In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here  
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear  
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here_


End file.
